The Vast Sea Sect normally hides within a small world opened by the Heavenly Curtain Great Array. Above a vast blue sea in this small world, countless floating immortal mountains quietly hover, as if unchanged for eternity.
Chen Luo was currently reclining on a chair woven from spirit bamboo. While his movements were relaxed and leisurely, his eyes frequently scanned the Heavenly Curtain Great Array that enveloped the entire Vast Sea small world.
After the entire Vast Sea Sect opened all its immortal cultivation classics, Chen Luo did not rush to read those profound and abstruse Dao arts and magnificent, powerful cultivation techniques.
Instead, he diligently studied the most basic and widely circulated spells and cultivation methods, as well as the cultivation insights of countless cultivators over countless years.
Without accumulating small steps, one cannot travel a thousand miles. Any supreme spell, from its foundation, is still built upon the most basic spirit energy and spirit patterns.
Therefore, Chen Luo never dared to underestimate the importance of these foundational scriptures.
In the past month, Chen Luo's brain had been operating at high speed. For the first twenty-three days, Chen Luo expended immense effort, reading through ninety percent of the low-level books that constituted the Vast Sea's library.
The remaining secret inherited scriptures and even wondrous immortal methods, which comprised less than ten percent, were hastily flipped through by Chen Luo in just two days.
At this moment, the world in Chen Luo's eyes gradually transformed.
Countless white points of light continuously flowed and moved throughout heaven and earth. Even the Vast Sea's Heavenly Curtain could not obstruct their ingress and egress, which was also why Chen Luo had been able to gather spirit energy from outside the small world.
The former Chen Luo merely felt that this spirit energy was moving without rules. But now, in Chen Luo's eyes, the movements of these spirit energy points had become meaningful.
From the gentle breeze to the radiance that illuminated all things, as all phenomena in the world changed, the spirit energy points would react.
Their trajectories coincided remarkably with the spirit patterns that possessed mysterious power.
After refining a hundred scriptures in his furnace, Chen Luo gained a deeper understanding of spirit energy:
"They are interpreting the Dao of this world!"
"Spirit patterns are Dao patterns!"
"If one can master all the transformations of spirit patterns, one understands all the Daos of this world!"
"No... it can go even further!"
Chen Luo felt as if he had grasped something in a blur, but that flash of inspiration stubbornly refused to fully manifest.
...
At this moment, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed not far behind Chen Luo.
Chen Luo shook his head and decided not to force it any further.
The answers he couldn't grasp or manifest were merely the result of his insufficient accumulation.
When his understanding of spirit patterns and spirit energy deepened further, perhaps he would experience a complete transformation.
The footsteps stopped beside Chen Luo. Lying back on the bamboo chair, Chen Luo felt the sunlight suddenly blocked. He looked up, only to see two semi-circular arcs:
"Long Ji, you've arrived?"
Seeing Long Ji sit down beside him, Chen Luo merely nodded casually before continuing to observe the distant Heavenly Curtain.
After delving into the research of spirit energy and spirit patterns, Chen Luo discovered that the so-called Five Methods of Protecting the Dao were essentially the interpretation of the principles of spirit energy and spirit patterns within this world's spirit energy civilization.
The Heavenly Curtain Great Array before him was the culmination of multiple protective methods combined, serving as an excellent object of study for Chen Luo.
As for Long Ji beside him, the reason Chen Luo was so casual, even calling her by name, was primarily due to their familiarity.
Over the past month, Linglong had been incommunicado, and no one else would visit this floating island. Therefore, all the resources and scriptures Chen Luo required were personally delivered by Long Ji.
Long Ji was also a woman of great propriety. After that, she never again mentioned the matter of arranging a marriage for Chen Luo. Instead, with a gentle, spring-like demeanor, she fulfilled all of Chen Luo's resource needs.
Perhaps it was Chen Luo's talent that made Long Ji believe he was worth investing in, or perhaps Long Ji believed Chen Luo was the only one who could save her daughter at this time, which led her to treat Chen Luo this way. However, Chen Luo's good impression of Long Ji had indeed improved.
Long Ji, gazing at the seemingly nonchalant Chen Luo, couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of awe.
Over the past month, Chen Luo's transformation had occurred at a speed that Long Ji witnessed firsthand. Initially, Long Ji was merely amazed by Chen Luo's spiritual aptitude and spirit body aptitude, which far surpassed ordinary individuals.
But even with such immense talent, Long Ji had only viewed Chen Luo as a monstrous prodigy, a potential future great figure.
However, later, as Chen Luo displayed his exceptional abilities during his studies, it was this that truly led Long Ji to be willing to converse with him as an equal.
In the beginning, Chen Luo's understanding of the Five Methods of Protecting the Dao was at the level of an ordinary beginner due to his limited exposure to information.
But later, as he continuously requested more materials and discovered that Long Ji herself was a Grandmaster of Array Dao, Chen Luo proactively began seeking her guidance. xxs1
For the sake of her daughter's destiny, Long Ji did not mind building a good relationship with Chen Luo. However, simply by teaching him, Long Ji found herself deeply engrossed.
The questions Chen Luo asked at first were very simple, even containing some common knowledge errors. Long Ji knew that Chen Luo had only begun to encounter this knowledge after coming to her place, so she patiently answered each one.
Even as a Grandmaster of Array Dao, Long Ji felt a secret sense of satisfaction at Chen Luo's occasional ignorance.
Hmph, you rejected my precious daughter, and you still think you're so amazing, yet you don't even understand these common concepts.
..
But as the teaching progressed, Long Ji gradually realized Chen Luo's terrifying potential in learning.
The Five Methods of Protecting the Dao were divided into levels of mastery from low to high: Proficient, Master, and Grandmaster.
Normally, a Dao Path cultivator would require fifty years to reach proficiency in one of the Five Methods of Protecting the Dao. This was a realm that could eventually be reached with diligent study.
However, to reach the Master realm, time, effort, and talent were all indispensable. As for the realms beyond that, they were even more so.
Just like Long Ji's Grandmaster realm in Array Dao, she was already a rare existence on the primal earth, which was also why she was able to escape from the Lord of the Great Zhen Immortal Dynasty back then.
After that banquet, on the first day Long Ji arrived, Chen Luo was still a beginner who hadn't even entered the threshold, let alone being close to proficiency.
It was from that day onwards, at Chen Luo's request, that Long Ji unlocked his access to the entire Vast Sea Library, with privileges second only to Long Ji, the Sect Master of Vast Sea.
It could be said that, apart from the ancient secrets known only to the Sect Master, all the cultivation knowledge of the entire Vast Sea Sect had been completely revealed to Chen Luo.
But when she arrived the next day, Long Ji was astonished to discover from Chen Luo's questions that his understanding of the Five Methods of Protecting the Dao seemed to have already reached the level of proficiency!
And Chen Luo's calm reply to Long Ji's astonishment almost scared her to death.